| Chapter 12 "Brian honey, this is what you want?" Jackie asked. Brian and Tara smiled at each other, "Yes mom, it is," he said. "And Tara, you're fine with all this?" Harold asked. "Yeah, I think we're where we should be right now," she said. "You kids are sure?" Harold asked. "Yes dad, we are. We're both happy with this decision," Brian said, rolling his eyes. "OK, I guess there's no talking you out of it," Jackie said. "Nope," Tara said. "Well, if either one of you needs anything, you know where we are," Harold said. "Thanks dad," Brian said. "Let us know what's going on, alright?" Jackie said. "We will, Jackie," Tara said. "Tell Nick and Lyn we're happy for you all, I think," Jackie said with a laugh. "OK, I'll call soon," Brian said. "Alright, love you," both Harold and Jackie said. "Love you," Brian and Tara said, as Brian hit the button to disconnect the line. "Well, that didn't go to bad," he said, smiling. "Yeah, your parents are real troopers," Tara said. "Well, they have to be to put up with me," Brian laughed. Tara rolled her eyes, "I know." "So I guess we're done. The attorney is gonna fax the paperwork for us to sign and mail back, and mom and dad are set," Brian observed. "What bout Harold Jr.?" Tara asked. "Mom's gonna call him and let him know," Brian answered. "Well, then I guess we are done," she said, sighing. "What was that for?" Brian asked. Tara shrugged her shoulders, "Nothing. It's just that when I married you I never imagined this would be how it would end, ya know?" Brian nodded, "Yeah, but look at it this way. We still love each other, not many divorced people can say that." "True, and we're both extremely in love with the person we're with now," she said, smiling. Brian grinned, "Yeah. So, I guess this is as good as it gets, as far as the divorce and all goes." Tara nodded, "I guess so." Kevin walked into the room, "You guys done?" "Yeah," Brian said. "Good, management is having a fit. They cancelled the entire first month of the European tour to deal with the backlash. I could just see the veins popping out of their foreheads as we spoke. They wanted to talk with you, but Nick handled most of it," he said. "Wow, I didn't think they cared so much," Brian said, sarcastically. Kevin laughed, "Yeah well, when it's their number one group, and it's something this big and potentially scandalous, they care." "Don't ya love the suits," Tara commented. Brian and Kevin laughed, shaking their heads. "So what do we do now? They want an interview or something?" Brian asked. "They did, but Nick convinced them that wasn't such a good idea," Kevin said. "They are releasing a statement about the divorce next week. We decided not to say anything about who you guys are with just yet. We thought that we'd just tell about the divorce, then handle the rest as it comes up," he said. "Yeah, that's a good idea. No use adding fuel to the fire just yet," Tara said. Brian agreed. "So that's where we're at right now. We have eight more weeks before we have to meet in LA to rehearse for the tour," Kevin said. Tara stood up, "I hope that's enough time." Kevin looked at her, "For what?" "Come downstairs, Nick and I need to fill you guys in on something," she said, heading out of the room. Kevin looked to Brian, "I'm not gonna like this am I?" Brian smiled and shook his head, "Nope cuz, you're not." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Everyone sat around the table eating. As they ate, Nick and Tara filled them in on their plan to go undercover. Kevin almost choked on his food. He couldn't believe they wanted to go back and do that. None of them could really. Not after the hell they both had just been through. "Guys, don't you see it's the only way?" Nick asked, trying to persuade them. "No man, there has to be another way, or someone else that can do this," Howie said. "There's not. We have the advantage here," Tara said. "Yeah but for how long?" Kevin asked. "How long before they see that you guys are acting? Then what?" A.J. asked. "They won't know until it's to late," Nick said. "You don't know that, what if they find you out?" Lyn asked. "Then we'll get pulled out before anything happens," Tara said. "By who?" Howie asked. Nick and Tara both sighed in frustration. "There will be others with us. They will be close enough that if we do happen to get into trouble, they can pull us out," Tara said. "Yeah, but won't Jered and Ephah feel them?" Brian asked. Nick shook his head, "No, they will be out of their range, but not out of mine." "Guys, I don't like this at all," Kevin announced. "We know," Nick said, "But it's really the only way." "Yeah, we know that those two aren't the only sirens in the world. We have to find out how they hide from us, so we can stop them," Tara said. "And, whatever Jered and Ephah want to teach me will help to. Then we can better prepare our trainees, so maybe we won't lose as many," Nick said. Brian smiled at them, "Listen to you. You sound like you're in an army or something." "Bri, we are," Tara said, pointing out the obvious. Everyone laughed. "So wether we like this or not, you're going, right?" Kevin asked. They both nodded. "It would make us feel better knowing you guys supported what we were doing though," Nick said. Everyone glanced at one another. Howie stood up, walking over to Nick and giving him a hug, "I'll pray for you guys everyday." Nick and Tara smiled, "Thanks D." "Yeah, I'm not much for praying, but I'll support whatever you guys do," A.J. said. "You know we do," Brian said, holding Lyn's hand. Nick and Tara looked at Kevin. He sighed, "I don't like this, but I'll support you, no matter what." "Thanks Kev," Nick said. "Thank you," Tara said, looking at them all. "Do you know when you'll be leaving?" Howie asked. "Not yet," Tara said. "Yeah, we still have to hear back from the counsel," Nick said. "Counsel? There's a counsel? For what?" A.J. asked. Nick and Tara laughed. "For everything. You name it, there's a counsel for it. How else do you think things get done?" Tara said. A.J. shrugged, "I dunno. Guess I always thought the big guy did it all himself." "Well, the �big guy' knows how to delegate," Tara said laughing. "Cool," A.J. said. Just then Gideon appeared in the room. Nick and Tara both looked at him anxiously. "They want to meet with both of you," he said. "When?" Tara asked. "Tomorrow," Gideon replied. "Is this a good meeting, or a bad one?" Nick asked. Gideon shook his head, "I don't know. They gave me no indication either way." Nick frowned, "That doesn't sound good." Tara put her hand on his arm, "We don't know that. Thanks for going for us." Gideon smiled, "I hope you can thank me tomorrow, after the ruling." "So do we," Nick said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nick and Tara sat on the beach watching the sun set. They had spent the day with everyone, laughing and goofing off. It felt like old times. Nick had pulled Kevin, Howie and A.J. aside and had apologized to them for making them worry. Of course they forgave him. Nick was finding it easier to forgive himself now. He still couldn't forget what he'd done, or what he let himself become, but as time passed, it got easier to push it aside, and go on. He looked over at Tara, watching her. She seemed lost in her own thoughts, and he loved the far away look she had on her face. He still couldn't believe that they were back together. Well as back together as you can be with a chaperon. He could feel Tracy behind them a ways. She'd been there all day, anytime they were together alone, she was there. He knew that was how it had to be for right now, and tried to accept it. His mind drifted to the counsel meeting. He didn't know what he was going to do if they ruled against them. He tried not to think about it, but it kept popping into his mind. He closed his eyes, willing the thought away. "You OK?" Tara asked. Nick opened his eyes, looking at her. The wind was gently blowing her hair, and her green eyes were sparkling. He smiled, "Yeah, just trying not to think about tomorrow." She sighed, "Yeah I know. I can't help but wonder how it's gonna go." "Me either. I'm a little scared," Nick admitted. "So am I. I've only gone before them one other time, and it was a grueling experience," she said. Nick tilted his head to the side, "Oh yeah. What happened?" Tara picked up a strand of her hair and started playing with it, "It was after I came back. They wanted to meet with me to make sure I was sincere in wanting to be back. They thought that since I'd turned so many, that maybe I was trying to trick them or something." "Like we're about to do?" Nick asked. She nodded, "Yeah. So I went. They each met with me individually, then as a group. It was the most nerve racking thing I've ever been through. Even though I knew in my heart I was sincere about coming back, I was still nervous." Nick reached over and squeezed her hand, "What did they ask you?" "That's just it, they didn't ask me anything. They looked into my heart. They saw what I really felt. They also saw what I had done," she said, remembering back. "So you just stood there while they searched your soul?" he asked. She nodded, "It was a very weird feeling. You want to try and block them from seeing the real you, but then you have to consciously make yourself let them in." "I'm not sure I can do that," Nick said, suddenly feeling self conscious, "They'll see what I did to you. How can I tell them I love you after they see that?" "Nick, you need to tell me what you did," she said, staring at him. Nick sighed, biting his lower lip. He fought to hold the tears back as he remembered what he put her through. "I got angry that you weren't responding to anything, so I had the girls put you in the rack," he started. "And?" she asked. Nick looked down at the sand as a tear rolled down his cheek, "I beat you," he said in a whisper. "What exactly did you do?" Tara asked. "I took that whip Serenity had and used it. I lost count how many times I hit you. It had to be a lot, your entire back was nothing but red bloody whelps. Then I grabbed the cattle prod and held it on you," he said. "What made you stop?" she asked. Nick wiped at his tears, "Ephah. He came in and started yelling at me." "I see," she said, looking back out at the water. "I'm sorry," Nick said, "I'm so sorry." Tara reached over and took his chin in her hand, lifting his head up so he was looking at her. "Nick, I don't remember any of it, but I forgive you," she said. "How can you? How can you say that after what I put you through?" he asked. She smiled at him, "Because I love you." Nick stared at her, his heart overflowing with love for her, and breaking at the same time. He felt so guilty for what he'd done. He regretted it with everything he had, but he couldn't take it back. "Nick, the counsel will know how you feel, you won't need to explain this to them," she said. "What if it's not enough? What if they rule against us?" he asked. Tara shook her head, "I'm trying not to think about that. Let's just deal with it when it happens, OK?" "OK, I guess," Nick said, laying back in the sand and staring up at the emerging stars. Tara lay back next to him, Nick wrapping his arm around her. "They're beautiful aren't they?" Nick said. "Yeah, they are," she replied. "Do you ever wonder, that if God made all this, that there has to be more than just us here to see it? That like maybe there's some other world out there, and maybe there are people like us there to?" Nick asked. Tara laughed, "I think we've all had that thought at one time or another." "What if there are people exactly like us out there. Surely somewhere out there we could be together without it being forbidden," Nick said. Tara glanced up at him, "So you're saying that if we get ruled against, you'd want to go to another planet?" Nick shrugged, "I don't know. I'm just wondering." "Nick, if God made all this, then wouldn't it be forbidden everywhere?" Tara said. Nick thought for a moment, "Yeah I guess it would," he said, sounding disappointed. Tara laughed at him. "Hey don't laugh, you'll make me feel bad," he teased. "Sorry, it's just the idea of us hopping a rocket ship to another planet. It's funny," she said. Nick rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I guess it is." "Nick, there's one thing we haven't thought of yet," Tara said. "What's that?" he asked. "If we are allowed to stay with each other, where are we gonna live?" she asked, "Since you no longer own a house, and neither do I." "Damn, that's a good question. I haven't thought past going back and kicking some demon butt. I don't know, where do you wanna live, if we get to that is?" he asked. "Anywhere is fine with me, just as long as I get to be with you," she said. Nick smiled at her, "I feel the same way. I love you Tara." "I love you too," she said. Chapter 13 |